Plants perennial; stoloniferous, sometimes mat-forming. Culms (1)4-15 cm, initially erect, eventually bending and rooting at the base of the inflorescence. Leaves not basally aggregated on the primary culms; sheaths with a tuft of hairs to 2 mm at the throat; ligules of hairs; blades involute. Inflorescencesterminal, short, dense panicles of spikelike branches, each subtended by leafy bracts and exceeded by the upper leaves; branches with 2-4 subsessile to shortly pedicellate spikelets. Spikelets laterally compressed, with 4-10 florets; disarticulation above the glumes. Glumes subequal to the adjacent lemmas, glabrous, 1-veined, rounded or weakly keeled, shortly awned to mucronate; florets bisexual; lemmas rounded or weakly keeled, densely pilose on the lower 1/2 and on the margins, thinly membranous, 3-veined, 2-lobed, lobes about 1/2 as long as the lemmas and obtuse, midveins extending into awns as long as or longer than the lobes, lateral veins not excurrent; paleas about as long as the lemmas; anthers 3. Caryopses oval in cross section, translucent; embryos more than 1/2 as long as the caryopses. x = 8. Name from the Greek dasys, thick with hair and chloë, grass.

Dasyochloa is a monotypic genus that is endemic to North America. It has been included in the past in each of the following: Triodia, Tridens, and Erioneuron. Dasyochloa differs from all three of these genera, but resembles Munroa, in its leafy-bracteate inflorescence (Caro 1981). Seedlings of Dasyochloa, like those of Erioneuron, are shaggy-white-villous. This indumentum is composed of myriads of hairlike, water soluble crystals that wash off in water. They are the product of transpiration and evaporation.

SELECTED REFERENCES Caro, J.A. 1981. Rehabilitación del género Dasyochloa (Gramineae). Dominguezia 2:1-17; Sánchez, E. 1983. Dasyochloa Willdenow ex Rydberg (Poaceae). Lilloa 36:131-138; Valdés-Reyna, J. and S.L. Hatch. 1997. A revision of Erioneuron and Dasyochloa (Poaceae: Eragrostideae). Sida 17:645-666.

Plants annual; stoloniferous, mat-forming; stolons 2-8 cm, terminating in fascicles of leaves from which new culms arise. Culms 3-15(30) cm. Leavesmostly basal, sometimes with a purple tint; sheaths with a tuft of hairs at the throat; auricles absent; ligules of hairs; blades linear, usually involute, sometimes flat or folded, with white, thickened margins, apices sharply pointed. Inflorescences terminal, capitate panicles of spikelike branches; branchesalmost completely hidden in a subtending leafy bract, with 2-4 subsessile or pedicellate spikelets. Spikelets laterally compressed, with 2-10 florets; lower florets bisexual or pistillate; terminal florets sterile; disarticulation above the glumes or beneath the leaves subtending the branches. Glumes shorter than the spikelets, keeled, 1-veined, unawned; lower glumes usually present on all spikelets (absent from all spikelets in M. mendocina); upper glumes absent or reduced on the terminal spikelet; lemmas with a pilose tuft of hairs along the margins at midlength, membranous or coriaceous, 3-veined, lateral veins occasionally shortly excurrent, apices emarginate or 2-lobed; paleas glabrous, smooth; lodicules present or absent, truncate; anthers 2 or 3, yellow; style branches elongate, 2(3), barbellate. Caryopses dorsally compressed. x = 7 or 8. Named for Sir William Munro (1818-1880), a British botanist who collected in Barbados, the Crimea, and India.

Munroa, a genus of five species, is endemic to the Western Hemisphere. One species occurs in the Flora region, the remainder being confined to South America. Its closest relatives are thought to be Blepharidachne and Dasyochloa, both of which are stoloniferous, mat-forming species with leafy-bracteate panicles. Munroa differs from both in its annual habit.

SELECTED REFERENCES Anton, A.M. and A.T. Hunziker. 1978. El género Munroa (Poaceae): Sinopsis morfológica y taxonómica. Bol. Acad. Nac. Ci. 52:229-252; Parodi, L.R. 1934. Contribución al estudio de las gramíneas del género Munroa. Revista Mus. La Plata 34:171-193; Sánchez, E. 1984. Estudios anatómicos en el género Munroa(Poaceae, Chloridoideae, Eragrostideae). Darwiniana 25:43-57.